Friday, January 10, 2014

return

Break's over. Time to go back. The predicted rain never came to Venice Florida. The air was warm, the skies were beautifully varied. I'm grateful for that.

This morning, I have just enough time for one quick look at the sea, the birds, that half-brooding sky at sunrise.

And, of course, breakfast with my friend.

And then it's back onto the highway, back on the plane, this time on an aircraft without a missing window, back to Detroit and back to Madison. (Which greets me with dense fog and freezing rain -- thanks! This, after I swore my allegiance to all seasons here!)

Still, I am back. It is officially my last day of work but I don't go in. I mean, this date is so oddly out of sync with reality anyway. I felt retired after I handed in graded exams and now I feel a little less retired as I have a half dozen students wanting to meet with me and review their tests. Emails from so many of them come in, nice emails, super kind emails, but student needs are ongoing. Should I respond -- no, I am off payroll now? Of course not.

At home I cook up whatever has lasted in the refrigerator this long -- vegetables, eggs, salad fixings. A typical farmhouse thrown together supper.Did you miss me? -- I ask Ed.Of course! -- he responds, but it's an automatic pilot response. I smile. I'll take it in any way it's offered. Isis comes up on the couch and sits between us, pushing his nose into me. He needs a pat and a kind word. Not hard, not hard at all.

I welcome comments, but I will not publish submissions that insult or demean, or that are posted anonymously. I am sorry to lose commenting Ocean friends who are not registered, but I want to encourage readers to submit remarks only if they feel they can stand behind their words. I do not seek a free-for-all here. I like camaraderie far more than conflict.

future ocean crossing

August 2015December 2015

New OCEAN readers take note!

Hey, new readers! If you want a quick summary of twothreefourfivesixseveneightnine ten years of blogging, read this:

It’s 2004. My two daughters are away at college (younger one) and law school (older one). Wow. Suddenly I have time to write! Not big stuff. Little stuff. Bloggy stuff. And so I start writing Ocean. I test styles, I add photos. Things evolve.

Over the years I tell you just a little about my past life. You’ll have figured out that I was born in Poland, but due to my dad’s diplomatic career, I spent some childhood years in New York. Eventually, as a young adult, I moved back to the States. I married, had kids, went to Law School. And after a short stint at a law firm, I came back to UW Law, this time as a faculty member. I taught law for twenty-five years and then took early retirement so that I could hatch new ideas and immerse myself in other projects.

Meantime, my marriage breaks up (gently, very gently), my daughters graduate from law schools (both of them!), life moves forward.

I meet Ed. On line, then in person. Ed is his own guy. Ed is Ed. One date and we are together. I’m done with suburbs: I live downtown. First an apartment loft, then a condo. Ed is indifferent to the apartment and hostile to the condo. Ed likes his sheep shed. (Did I tell you he lived in a buffed up sheep shed on his property?)He travels to see me daily, but never tires of calling my brilliantly clever living arrangement – a dump. (Ed: if I wanted to live in buildings like this, I would have stayed in New York.)

Five and a half years after meeting Ed, I pack up my dwindling belongings and move to the farmhouse on his land (just south of Madison).

We renovate it. Ohhhh, the farmhouse needs it! A hundred years of issues. But Ed has skills and he has time. Between him and a couple of construction types, the place is patched, mended, finished and (in April of 2011) I move in.

Alright. That’s the chronology. Here’s what else you might want to know about us: Ed and I have nothing in common. Most of the time, we say this with a laugh.

Here’s something else: one fourth of my heart is in Europe and one eighth in travel of any kind. So even though I love our farmette (it's not really a farm anymore), I am very often on the road. Away. Ed used to tag along. I have been known to call him my occasional travel companion. These days, he prefers to stay home and look after the cat. And the chickens. Skype is my best friend when I am away.

Anything else? My father was born in Warsaw and he died in Warsaw, my sister lives in Sweden, my mother lives in Berkeley. One daughter lives in Minneapolis, the other teaches right here at UW in Madison.

That’s it! Anything else you’ll have to pick up by reading along. No need to go back in time, unless you want to...